BLOOD STAINED an unputdownable crime thriller with a breathtaking twist (Detective Claudia Nunn Book by Rebecca Bradley (rooftoppers .TXT) 📕

get over it. ‘Text me his work address, don’t bother calling him, I’ll go and see him.’ Hers was a work mobile so it was fine to transfer personal information like this.

‘You’re sure? We can deal with it while you’re there.’ He wanted to be helpful but Claudia was twitchy. It was like her skin was going to crawl from her bones of its own accord.

‘It’s fine. I can fit it in.’

* * *

Mike Bell was a butcher. It was late in the day for a shop and the premises were quiet. Claudia and Kane entered, a small chime tinkling above their heads as they walked through the door. The smell of cold dead meat assaulted her nostrils. Metallic and raw. The temperature chilling her skin. Pimples rising on her arms.

A large man, round with red cheeks, greeted them from behind the counter. The kind of man you’d imagine on the signage of a butcher’s shop. You’d describe him as jolly. Was this their guy?

‘Mr Bell?’ Claudia asked.

‘Ooh, no,’ the man laughed. ‘He’s out back. Anything I can do for you?’ He rubbed his hands together. To stave off the chill or with eagerness for the task in front of him?

‘We need to speak to Mr Michael Bell, please.’ Claudia showed her identification. The jolly man’s mouth clamped shut into a tight line and he glanced to the doorway that led to the rear.

Claudia’s hackles rose. She parted her feet ready to run if necessary.

Then the man spoke again. ‘He’s not in any trouble, is he?’

Claudia shook her head. ‘We just need a word with him.’ Her patience was wearing thin. She wanted to get on with this. Find out what Bell knew. What information he was holding. She needed to know if they were on a wild goose chase.

‘Mike,’ the man shouted through the space between the store and the back. ‘You’d better come out front, mate.’

Claudia heard him first. His footsteps on the hard floor echoing in front of him as he moved towards them. He walked into the shop, rubbing his hands down the front of his apron. He was small. Slim build with a head of red hair.

‘What is it, Tim?’

‘Police, mate.’ Tim stood stock still.

Mike Bell looked at Claudia and Kane. ‘You’re after me?’

‘Is there somewhere we can talk?’ Claudia asked.

‘I’m supposed to be working.’ He turned to Tim.

Tim shrugged.

‘We need to talk to you, Mr Bell.’

Bell pursed his lips. There was a second door at the side of the opening he’d walked through. He indicated they should go through there. Claudia and Kane followed him in. It led down a narrow corridor the length of the building and out the back where large industrial bins stood. It was shaded from the sun here and cool. Claudia shivered.

‘What is it?’ Bell asked.

‘You were recently seen eating a bag of chips on the corner of Well Road and Gleadless Road, can you first confirm that was you?’

Bell cradled his chin as he thought about it. ‘I don’t understand?’

‘A woman, who would later become a murder victim, was abducted from there around the time you were seen.’

His lips parted in an ‘Oh’.

‘We need to know what you saw.’

Bell swallowed. ‘Yeah, there was a woman with a man. He had his arm around her. She was unsteady on her feet. I thought she’d maybe had too much to drink. He was keeping her upright.’

Claudia’s adrenalin burst through her veins and she shared a look with Kane. She could see he was as excited by this as she was. ‘Did you get a good look at the man?’

‘Oh yeah, they walked right under the streetlight in front of me. I was messing about with my phone and nearly walked into them. The guy apologised and carried on walking, controlling the woman.’

They finally had a real witness. One who had come face to face with the Sheffield Strangler.

Chapter 34

Claudia

Claudia and Kane drove Michael Bell back to their home-base police station, Snig Hill, and to the incident room where the team could follow up with him.

For his part, Bell wasn’t happy. He’d stripped out of his whites complaining about the fact that he was supposed to be at work. Tim had tried to reassure him that he could hold the fort down until they closed, which Claudia realised wasn’t going to be long. Tim would hardly be standing alone for hours. It was getting close to seven p.m. They were probably going to close soon anyway. She wanted to remind Bell of this but kept her mouth closed. The guy was doing them a favour, best not to antagonise him.

‘We’re grateful for your help,’ she said as Kane manoeuvred the car into its parking space.

‘What is it you want me to do?’ He looked down at the phone in his hands.

Claudia rolled her eyes. She’d been through this with him already. ‘We’re going to get you to work with someone to create a photofit for us. Of the guy you saw that night.’

Bell opened his phone. Claudia raised an eyebrow.

‘I’m letting my wife know I’ll be late home.’

Claudia thought of her empty house. She had no one to keep up to date with her movements. Not even a pet she could talk to. Ruth was the person she turned to when she needed someone. Ruth was there regardless of what was happening in her own life and Claudia loved her for it. She was aware she had given too much time to the job. That her body clock was ticking by. She’d had that very conversation with Ruth who had told her she didn’t need a man. She was an independent woman and could raise a child on her own. But Claudia didn’t know if that was what she wanted.